


Darkness

by theskew



Series: Sommerchallenge 2017 [8]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Light Angst, Resurrection, Throwback
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 06:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12053052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskew/pseuds/theskew
Summary: As a guardian, death is inevitable.(Written for the 2017 summer challenge by 120_minuten on livejournal.)





	Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> **Rating:** P12?  
>  **Team:** Rapunzel  
>  **Prompt:** Angst: Dunkelheit - fürs Team  
>  **Characters:** unnamed Guardian, Ghost  
>  **Genre:** angst, drabble, throwback  
>  **Summary:** As a guardian, death is inevitable.  
>  **Timeline:** From the very beginning of Destiny 1 to the beginning of Destiny 2.  
>  **Warnings:** Well... character death. Kinda.  
>  **Word count:** 5 double drabbles = 1000 words  
>  **Time:** 60 minutes

 

 

The first death is the weirdest.  
This tiny metal thing – ghost, as it has called itself – floats around you, beeping nervously and trembling in the air as you step into the building. You don’t know where you are, what you have to do, heck, you don’t even know exactly  _who_ you are, haven’t had the chance to ask yet. The ghost is addressing you by calling you “guardian” and frankly, you don’t remember your own name, so it’s fine, it’s okay.  
“You were dead”, it has told you, “the world is different now”, and by now, you believe it. You don’t know the world before, even though you lived in it. You can only guess that this is a dystopian future. You’ve been walking through long abandoned places, rusty car wrecks on the streets and plants growing everywhere, and to make matters even worse, you’re being chased by... you have no idea. But they’re there, and they’re behind you, so you need to flee and you need to fight.  
“We’ll figure it out later”, the ghost says, and for now, you believe it.  
Yes, you have died. You’ve died centuries ago. But you don’t remember it. You don’t remember anything.

 

 

The second death is the most surprising one.  
There they are, those things that have been following you. They took you by surprise and even though you knew that you couldn’t possibly avoid them forever, you froze at the sound of the first gunshot.  
“Guardian”, the ghost warns you, “I didn’t get you that gun for nothing. This is the point where you should use it.”  
You don’t remember if you’ve ever used a gun before, but it comes quite naturally to you, or so it seems. The enemies – dreg, as your helmet’s interface informs you – try to hide behind chests as you peek around the corner, but they don’t hide completely. You aim and you shoot and surprisingly, you hit one of them, but it doesn’t go down – not yet.  
The shot angers them, really angers them, and the next bullets hit you. The arm, the chest, the leg, the arm again. You stumble backwards as intense pain floats through your body. Your interface flashes red. It’s done, you think. You’re done. They got you. It’s over, it must be over.  
The darkness creeps upon the corners of your view. Another shot strikes you and everything turns pitch black.

 

 

You have failed.  
The first thing that comes to your mind is “I failed”.  
After that you realize that apparently you’re alive enough to think you’re dead, and that’s... something, isn’t it?  
Everything around you is dark, you don’t see anything when you open your eyes, so you decide to keep them shut. You’re floating, not feeling gravity. The space you’re in has no directions. You’re just... there. It’s warm here, comfortably warm, and all your pain is gone. Maybe you are dead. Maybe this is what death feels like. After all, you’ve been fatally wounded, being dead is the only logical outcome of that situation, at least by the logic you know.  
On the other hand, you don’t  _feel_ dead. Sure, you don’t feel particularly alive either, but... you exist. Somewhere. Somehow. You can feel it.  
Then something changes. The world around you turns bright, very bright, and a little bit of blue. It’s pulsating at the same speed of your heart.  
Beat.  
Beat.  
Beat.  
“Eyes up, Guardian”, your ghost says. The gravity is back, the world is back. You realize that you are back – whatever that means.  
The ghost chuckles. “Promise me to aim better this time, yes?”

 

 

It has taken you several hours and one or two (or maybe three) other deaths to fully understand that you are, in fact, dying and your ghost has the ability to resurrect you.  
“It’s the light”, it says. “You’ve been chosen by the traveler. You’re a guardian.”  
Every second you’re alive raises more questions, but you keep quiet. For now.  
The ghost continues. “In order to bring you back, you must be dead. You must be filled with darkness before I can bring the light back into you.”  
That does sound logical, you think.  
“But it mustn’t be the bad guy darkness. What you need is the empty darkness, you know?”  
...Never mind.  
“I don’t”, you confess.  
“Oh.” The ghost moves its metal parts around in a way that looks like it’s shaking its head. “Well, you don’t have to understand, resurrecting you is my job.”  
“What is the light?”, you ask. “Who is the traveler? And why did he choose me? What is happening here?”  
The ghost stares at you for two long seconds. “I really have to get you to the speaker”, it decides, slowly floating away.  
You follow it. Apparently this speaker has the answers you need.

 

Dying has become way different during the years.  
Sure, it’s still an uncomfortable feeling – being shot at and feeling all the darkness creeping up – but you’re not freaking out anymore. It’s become... normal. Unavoidable. An important part of this entire guardian thing you’re supposed to do.  
Back than, way back, during your first months as a guardian, death has freaked you out. You knew you’d be resurrected, of course, your ghost has done it way too often, but the concept of  _actually dying_  was something you’d never been keen with.  
You still don’t like it.  
There are guardians who die on purpose, who jump from bridges or decide to get shot, just because they like being resurrected. You... not so much. Not even now.  
But you’ve gotten a bit more... reckless since then. Sure, your enemies have gotten stronger, too, but you’re not avoiding death as much as you did once. On some days your death rate is through the roof and that’s okay. That’s okay. You have your ghost. You have the light. You can’t die. Not really. And it took years and years of fighting, but you’ve gotten used to it.

 

Until the day the light is banished.

 

 

 


End file.
